Any Other Way
by The Feisty Rogue
Summary: Sirius ends up on the wrong end of a gun.


Muggle clubbing had been fun, up until now. It was 3am, and there was a man waving around a strange metal wand, practically tripping over his feet before Sirius on the pavement. He was obviously off his face, interspersing drunken slurs with words that Sirius recognised well, words like 'faggot'.

Sirius hated those kinds of words. Especially when it wasn't just him they were being aimed toward. There was an innocent muggle couple cowering away from the man – why, Sirius didn't know.

"Oi! Shut the fuck up," he called, drawing his wand. The man, strangely attired in baggy clothes, and having shaved off all his hair, turned to him with a wild look in his eyes.

"Sirius, leave it!" Lily hissed, yanking on his arm. For some reason, she sounded worried.

"What's he gonna do?" Sirius growled, shrugging her off, and squared up to the man. "Huh – what you gonna do?"

A snarled twisted its way across the man's face. "This!" There was a loud bang, so loud it echoed around Sirius skull, but even worse was the blazing, burning, brutal pain in side.

"Sirius!" Lily shrieked, catching him as he staggered forward. He clutched at his stomach in shock. The muggle spell had hit him so quickly he'd not even had time to think about shielding.

It hurt. It really fucking hurt.

The crowd around them had scattered, so at least only Lily was witnessing Sirius' humiliation.

"Lils," he groaned.

"Oh shit, you got shot, oh shit, oh shit!" she mumbled, and pressed on his wound, which was bleeding more than he'd ever seen a wound bleed before.

"Fuck!" Sirius yelled, the pain inescapable. The world was starting to blur, and all he could focus on were the tears pouring down Lily's face, before his vision turned dark.

* * *

Waking up was unpleasant, but better than not waking up at all. Judging from the distinct scent of sage and antibacterial cleaner, he was in St. Mungo's.

"The Statute of Secrecy exists for a reason, you pillock! Not just to protect them, but us as well!"

Sirius jumped at the voice in his ear, but couldn't hold back his smile. "Heya Lils."

"Don't you 'heya Lils' me!" she snapped, however the soft way she was stroking his hair belayed the anger in her voice.

He forced open his eyes, blinking against the glare of the room, walls whitewashed and far too pristine for his taste.

Moments later, a Healer bustled in. "Don't even think about moving, young man," she said sharply, as if she'd seen the mischief in his eyes. He glanced at her wand, competently performing all sorts of diagnostics and scary spells, and sunk even further into the pillows.

"Don't worry, Healer Jones. I won't let him get up," Lily reassured her, who Sirius was beginning to think of as The Harpy for the way that she glared at him.

"Hmpf. You better not. We're keeping him in for observation – losing that much blood can't be replaced with just a simple replenisher." Healer Jones sniffed. "Other than that, he's doing perfectly fine." Lily's shoulders sagged with relief, even as the Healer strode out of the room with one final suspicious glance toward Sirius.

"What did I ever do to her?" Sirius declared, shooting an outraged look at Lily once he'd waited until Healer Jones was definitely out of earshot. Afterall, it seemed that he was already in her bad books.

Lily reluctantly smiled. "Remember Katrina Jones, you absolute prat?" Lily asked, and there was even a smirk in the corner of her mouth. "That's her mum."

Sirius gulped. "Oh," he said, and wondered how much persuasion it would take James to quit his current undercover mission in order to break Sirius out of the hospital.

"Don't even think about it," Lily said, seemingly reading his mind. "You're already in enough trouble."

Sirius smiled sheepishly up at her. "But you wouldn't have me any other way?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "I suppose not," she said, but couldn't hold back her grin.

* * *

Assignment #9

Divination: write about someone in a life threatening situation

Extra Prompt: (word) secrecy

Jingle Bell Ball Song Challenge 14\. (character) Sirius Black

Writing Club

Showtime 6. (situation) a threat

Buttons (character) 1. Sirius Black

 _Word Count: 674_


End file.
